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The framework of futility is reloaded in this mind-bendingly dull science fiction film, more a screensaver than an real cinematic experience. This is a third installment to the original movie Tron from the early 80s, a movie that was groundbreaking and boldly pioneering for its day in a way that eludes this one and its predecessor Tron Legacy from the previous decade. The new Tron film nearly comes to life just once – when Evan Peters' character gets a smack in the face from Gillian Anderson's character playing his mother, in an traditional bit of real-world action. That's a bit of firm parenting you might feel like administering to every producer engaged in this movie, and it's sad to see the respected Greta Lee's role and Jodie Turner-Smith's character being made to look so lifeless.

Story Summary of The New Tron Film

The scenario now is that an evil AI corporation with the unsubtly gangster-ish name of Dillinger has become a rival to the VR company Encom, originally set up in the 80s arcade-game era by brilliant innovator Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges. This corporation (initially founded by Encom's executive Ed Dillinger's role, acted by David Warner) is led by the founder's annoyingly geeky grandson's character Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who has a ambitious scheme to develop and produce profitable things such as indestructible soldiers and armored vehicles in the VR world and then transfer them into actual reality using a sort of three-dimensional printer.

The issue is that however fearsome, these creations crumble into dust after 29 minutes. But Encom's current CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) has uncovered the MacGuffin-y “permanence code” which can keep these things alive for ever, and even stores it on her person on a extremely basic USB drive. So the ghastly Julian sets his attack dog on her: Ares the warrior, the superhuman fighter which can exit the virtual realm for 29 minutes at a time but which, in the traditional way of robots, is beginning to show signs of not doing what he's told. Jodie Turner-Smith portrays Ares's deadpan second-in-command Athena and poor Jeff Bridges has a wooden legacy appearance in sage-like white garments, like a budget Jor-El on Krypton.

Acting and Roles Breakdown

And Ares himself – the protagonist of the film's name – is acted by Jared Leto with hipsterish long hair, beard and faintly all-knowing smile, touches that were possibly created by inputting the words “incredibly irritating” into an artificial intelligence character generator. No one who remembers the 1990s television classic My So-Called Life will ever find it in their hearts to be totally rude about Jared Leto, and I was also very entertained by his broad (and widely misinterpreted) humorous performance in Ridley Scott's movie House of Gucci. But Leto is unremittingly, persistently awful here, although his performance isn't aided by a weak storyline which is supposed to allow him to display glimpses of “compassion” for Greta Lee's character and delegate all the villainous actions to Athena's character, thus rendering her slightly more engaging. It is supposed to be adorable when Ares the character says how he adores 1980s electronic music and that Depeche Mode band are superior to Mozart.

Franchise Elements and Overall Impact

And in keeping with the franchise identity of the series, there are motorcycles from the virtual underworld which speed around the environment in linear paths, conforming to the rectilinear design of classic video games (or indeed dance clubs); a single bike even emits a lethal beam which cuts a police vehicle in two. But there is zero tension or jeopardy or human interest throughout. This franchise now looks about as urgently contemporary as an in-car CD player.